1. Field
Aspects of the present invention generally relate to a printing apparatus, a method for controlling the same, and a recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
A recent printing apparatus typically has a power-saving mode function for reducing standby power. When the printing apparatus is not used in its activated state for a certain period of time, the printing apparatus is automatically shifted from a normal mode capable of immediately dealing with print processing to an energy-saving mode to reduce power on standby. However, from a viewpoint of a user who uses the printing apparatus, convenience may be lost due to a pressing action of a power-saving key included in the printing apparatus to recover from the power-saving mode to the normal mode or waiting time until the recovery to the normal mode.
In order to solve the issue, in recent years, there has been offered a method for mounting a human presence sensor on the printing apparatus to detect a person and automatically recovering the printing apparatus from the energy-saving mode to the normal mode when the user approaches the apparatus (e.g., refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-177796).
According to the method discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-177796, the automatic recovering from the energy-saving mode is carried out by using two types of human presence sensors, namely, a pyroelectric sensor and a reflection sensor. The pyroelectric sensor is a sensor for detecting a change in amount of infrared rays emitted from a heat source (person or the like). Using the pyroelectric sensor enables capturing of a heat source (heat radiated from person) located relatively far and approaching an image forming apparatus.
The reflection sensor is a sensor for emitting “light” such as visible rays or infrared rays as signal light from a light projection unit and detecting, by a light reception unit, light reflected from a detected object or a change in the amount of blocked light, to detect presence or absence of the object. A detection distance is generally short.
According to the method discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-177796, the heat source is captured at a distance of about 1 to 2 m from the printing apparatus by the pyroelectric sensor and, when the reflection sensor detects that the heat source reaches a position very close to the printing apparatus, the recovering from the energy-saving mode is started.
Thus, according to the technique discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-177796, the printing apparatus can be automatically recovered from the energy-saving mode to the normal mode without erroneously detecting the person.
The use of the technique discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-177796 can solve the first issue of the power-saving mode. Specifically, the user can be relieved of the cumbersome and complicated action of manually recovering from the power-saving mode such as pressing of the power-saving key. However, the technique cannot provide a satisfactory solution to the second issue, namely, the waiting time until the recovery to the normal mode, since the recovering is performed when the heat source (person) reaches a position close to the printing apparatus.
In recent years, as another human presence sensor, an infrared array sensor has begun to be widely used. The infrared array sensor is a sensor capable of estimating a moving direction of a heat source or a distance to the heat source by arranging infrared sensors for detecting a change in amount of infrared rays in an array.